Wall Street stocks tumbled early on Monday (Tuesday NZT) amid lingering uncertainty over Donald Trump’s trade policy as the President slammed Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell in a new social media post. 

Stocks had opened lower after China warned other countries against negotiating trade deals with the United States at Beijing’s expense. 

But equities fell further shortly after the market opened when Trump called Powell a “major” for not cutting interest rates, underscoring questions about whether Trump will attempt to fire Powell in a move that would further unnerve markets. 

In late trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.5% at 38,170. 

The broad-based S&P 500 declined 2.4% to 5158, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 2.6% to 15,871. 

Nvidia shares closed down 4.51% to US$96.91. The stock is now down 29.9% year-to-date. 

Tesla shares fell 6.0% to US$227.42. The stock was at US$432.49 on January 21 as Trump took power. 

The Dow industrials index dropped almost 1000 points and is now pace for its worst April since 1932, according to a Wall Street Journal report. 

Gold surged to over US$3400 a troy ounce, a new record. 

The ICE US dollar index, a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies, slipped more than 1% to its lowest level in three years. The dollar hit fresh lows against the euro, pound, yen and Swiss franc. 

10-year Treasury yields rose to 4.40% 

Trump’s attack on Powell “creates more uncertainty”, said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments. 

“Nobody knows what’s going to happen going forward. 

“And the fear that, we might actually have a recession unfold is stronger than anything else right now.” 

Among individual companies, Netflix climbed 1.5% following better-than-expected results as revenues rose following subscription price hikes. 

This week’s earnings calendar includes reports from Tesla, Boeing and Procter & Gamble. 

Also on the agenda will be the annual spring meetings in Washington at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. 

-Agence France-Presse. With reporting by Herald staff